Hey everyone who decided to read my story! Basically, it's an alternate ending to the Reckoning (not that it needs a better ending, of course). It starts off towards the middle of the book when they're beginning to plot their escape from the Banks' mansion. It takes some plot ideas from the original Reckoning while still incorporating new twists. My story also kind of jumps right in to the plot, so just keep with it and it'll make sense. Please R&R (even if you don't like it, I'd like to hear what you think!) Thanks!
"Hey!" I cried as loud as I dared, only wanting Derek to hear me. Sure enough it was his lumbering footsteps coming up the stairs.
"What?"
"I found something."
"Where?"
"Over there." I waved him over to the far corner. If he noticed anything strange about me not following him there, he didn't comment on it.
"What am I looking for?" He bent over, craning his neck to peer around a stack of boxes.
"Oh, you'll see it." I was slowly edging back towards the door.
Now he became suspicious. He turned and gave me that look- half angry, half curious. His eyes flared with fury as he realized what I was doing, but it was too late. I lunged out of the door and slammed it shut behind me, hearing his muffled curses from behind the door. With shaking fingers I slammed down the master lock, jabbing it with the key until I was satisfied Derek wouldn't be able to get out. I sighed with relief, slumping against the wall.
"Chloe! Open the door!" he pounded on it but to no avail. That was good. I was counting on the fact that even his mega werewolf powers couldn't break open a door with a lock this big.
"Sorry, but I can't do that." I did feel sorry, he'd hate me for what I was about to do. But this was necessary, and I knew if he wasn't locked up there'd be no way he'd agree to my plan.
"What are you doing?" he snarled from the other side. "Let me out!" The door shuddered and I imagined him throwing himself against it. Still, it held.
I pulled out the note I had written in advance from my pocket. "Here." I shoved it partially beneath the door. The pounding stopped and the rest of the paper disappeared from view. There was a moment of silence and I guessed he was reading the note. Then he swore, even more colorfully than before and threw himself into his escape attempts with renewed intensity.
"Stop that! You're just going to hurt yourself!" I scolded. "You know you can't get out."
"Chloe, this is stupid!" he yelled making me wince. "Do you have a death wish?"
"No, and that's why I have to do it. We'll all die if we don't escape, and I'm the one who should do it- you know that. Who else isn't a threat?"
"No!" he snarled. "You will not do this, Chloe."
"Not like you can stop me." I regretted the words as soon as I said them, but didn't apologize.
His voice took on a slightly gentler tone as he tried a different tactic and the shaking of the door stopped. "Please Chloe?" I knew how much effort that was taking him, and for a second I was tempted to surrender and admit the idiocy of my own plan. It's not like I wanted to risk my life. It was just something that needed to be done. With that in mind, I made my decision.
"I'm leaving the key right here." I called through the door to him. "Simon will find you eventually."
"Chloe!" The door shuddered again but I was walking down the hall.
I passed Tori on my way to the kitchen, but she didn't seem suspicious. "Going outside?" she asked in a tone that was mildly pleasant, considering this was Tori after all.
"Yeah, just want some fresh air."
"I know what you mean. Another few days here and I will literally murder someone. Want me to go with you?" I was shocked by the offer. As much as I had come to trust Tori as a companion, were we actually becoming friends? A few weeks ago I would have laughed at the very idea but now it seemed a promising possibility.
"Um, no thanks." I was almost reluctant to turn her rare offer down. "I need some time to think, you know?"
She shrugged and turned back to her magazine. "Suit yourself."
See, this is why I hadn't locked them all up. Simon and Tori wouldn't try as hard to stop me from going outside. Derek, on the other hand, would have never let me step foot out of the house alone. The fact that he was the only one who could really track me was another reason it was him I'd trapped.
Outside the sun was setting, a brilliant orange orb snatching the warmth out of the world and running with it. I resolutely marched to the woods, pausing for only a second before shoving my way in. Ever twig beneath my feet shattered the silence like a gunshot, making me jump. I tried to creep through the forest as quietly as possible, but I still figured it was only a matter of time before the gunshot sounds were going to be coming from actual guns.
After a half hour, I heard a voice.
"Boo." I whirled at the sound, heart in my throat, expecting to see an armed Edison Group member with a gun aimed at my face. What I did see was even worse.
I tried to keep my voice from shaking as I quietly acknowledged, "Royce."
"Aw, I didn't scare you?" He pouted, wiping away mock tears. I was tempted to just walk away but it was impossible to forget what he was capable of if I had my back turned. At least this way he couldn't catch me by surprise.
I crossed my arms and stood tall, the perfect movie heroine (if you could ignore the fact that I was actually shaking). "What do you want?"
He laughed. "What makes you think I want something?"
"If you didn't want something, you wouldn't be here. You'd be back at the house."
"Ah," he nodded, "You're right. I would rather be at the house right now. But there's no one to scare there, is there? Not really. Not like I could scare you." As he spoke he had been slowly stepping towards me, a menacing predatory smile glued to his face. I took an involuntary step back. "After all," he was directly in front of me now and leaning even closer. "You're not very hard to scare." I flinched away from his face, mere inches in front of mine, so close I could see every freckle, every crease around the lips as he smirked at me. A rotting smell of decomposition poured from his mouth as he spoke, though that may have been just my imagination. Even so, I took another few steps back.
"Not very hard to scare at all." he repeated, still coming closer.
I couldn't just keep backing up like this. Any moment I would crash into something (or someone) and that would be the end. So next time he got close enough to lean forward I stood my ground. "Why are you here Royce?" I challenged.
"Why do you think I'm here?" his voice was silky smooth with cunning as he bore down on me. Another inch forward and he would pass right through me.
"Go away." That only made him laugh; he drew back to laugh even harder.
"What if I say no?" he grinned.
I was getting seriously sick of his rhetorical questions. "Go ahead. Say no. Not going to make a difference." Already I was focusing on the pushing sensation of expelling him.
"No."
I didn't stop.
The smile disappeared a little from his face, leaving behind a somewhat annoyed expression. "I said no!"
"Too bad." his form was flickering a little now. I risked a glance behind me and saw a tree only two steps back. I pressed myself up against it, drawing strength from it's sturdiness. I ramped up the power a bit.
"No!" I watched him pick up a rock and fling it at me. He was desperate, his aim was off. I was able to duck easily, the rock clattering against the trunk behind me.
He picked up another one and this one actually hit my shoulder. I could no longer concentrate on dodging, I had to focus all my energy on getting rid of him.
It was mostly easy to ignore the rocks being thrown at me, as most of them merely glanced off the edges of my body. However, a minute later one collided with the center of my forehead, making me wince.
"Score one for the Royce!" he cheered, his image already becoming more opaque. I gritted my teeth against the pain, ignoring the blood dripping into my eye, and with a final shove sent him tumbling out of this realm.
He just vanished.
Relieved, I sunk to the ground, hand reaching up to probe the head injury his rock had inflicted. Fortunately it seemed like a shallow cut, the blood already stopping. I wiped at it with the corner of my sweatshirt sleeve for a minute before making myself stand again. It was a relief to be rid of him for now but I knew he could come back at any moment. Not to mention the Edison Group finding me…or even worse. Derek.
What I needed to focus on now was finding an escape route and then reporting it back to the others.
